


Bad Tongue

by VioletTeaTime



Series: Language Barriers [1]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Fluff, Language Barrier, M/M, Nonbinary Haruhi, french suoh, kyouya has a good time, kyouya ootori is a good friend, no beta we die like men, please remember he isn't fully japanese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletTeaTime/pseuds/VioletTeaTime
Summary: When Tamaki arrives in Japan, his sense of the language is poor. Kyoya doesn't correct him.-aka Kyoya doesn't realize something he should have long ago
Relationships: Ootori Kyouya/Suoh Tamaki
Series: Language Barriers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1621564
Comments: 22
Kudos: 468





	Bad Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> i have been sick for a week, havent slept properly in four days, and its exam week in Canada so fuck yeah im not studying i'm pumping out this shit  
> ALSO i've only ever really been to a place where I only sorta knew the language once so i hope my language barrier is believable??

Suoh obviously wasn't stupid. That was obvious by the dozens of novels placed in straight lines on the tops of nearly every surface in his room, many of them with cracked spines. Kyoya looked down to his right, where Suoh's desk was, and ran his fingertips lightly over a copy of _Tokyo Ghoul_ that had been translated into French. Suoh himself sat cross legged on his bed, dressed in far too comfortable clothes to be meeting with Kyoya, granted they had only met mere weeks before. 

The blonde smiled wide when he heard Kyoya's footsteps, which made Kyoya's heart flutter. Suoh Tamaki was too pretty for his own good. 

"Kyoya! Hello! Is good today outside, yeah? We should walk." Suoh's thick accent pulled the vowels of each word in a way that Kyoya found frustrating, but endearing. 

"Where do you wish to go? And please, do put on some proper clothes should we leave the house." Kyoya nodded towards Suoh, subtly trying to inform him that an outfit of a tank top and _Hello Kitty_ pyjama pants was improper. Suoh looked down and blushed bright.

He let out a soft word in French before continuing. "I will change clothes. We should go to food. The French bakery, get bread. Coffee with..." He snapped his fingers before cupping his chin with them, trying to think of the word. "Come from cow. _Lait_." 

Kyoya nodded, trying his best not to correct every grammar mistake in the sentence. "Milk, Suoh."

Suoh nodded excitedly. "M _a_ lk! Yes! Kyoya, you are so smart! I love you!" 

Kyoya felt rooted in place by those words, warmth spreading throughout his chest. Yes, the phrase was most likely lost in translation, but Kyoya so rarely heard those words come out of someone's mouth towards him. Suoh was smart, but he didn't have a grasp on Japanese yet. He opened his mouth to explain what the phrase meant, but Suoh was already waving him out of the room so he could get changed before the walk. 

Kyoya felt Suoh's warm hand push him out of the room, and shut the door firmly behind his back. He leaned onto it, grounding himself from feeling too far away by rubbing the grooves of the fine carved wood, listening to the hustle of Tamaki in his room, muttering in his mother language. 

-

The mid-October air was still warm, but comfortable to Kyoya. Suoh, on the other hand, whined endlessly about how France was much colder this time of year, and how much nicer it was to have an autumn with the leaves properly changing colours. Their strides had matched up well, their feet one sound as they marched together in the direction of the bakery that Suoh preferred. 

"Near eighteen degrees! That is _swim_ weather! That is eat outside weather!" Suoh's hands flew as he spoke, and it took everything in Kyoya not to smack one of those hands right out of the way. 

"Suoh, it's nice weather. It will get colder in the winter, don't worry." He smiled at his friend, but Suoh stopped.

"Kyoya, why is it that you never say my name? I say yours." Suoh was very poorly trying to cover the distain in his voice. Kyoya felt bad immediately, he had never thought of it that way. Where Suoh Tamaki was from, others would call him Tamaki. 

"In Japanese, we use people's family names out of respect. A given name is unusual to use except by family or close relationships." Suoh looked down.

"Oh."

Kyoya grazed Suoh's forearm gently, making him look up to make eye contact.

"Kyoya, are we not in a relationship?"

God, this boy was going to be the death of him. Tamaki's words were so soft, so confused. He didn't mean to offend, or seem to presume anything.

"I guess we are, _Tamaki_."

The grin on the blonde's face was enough to make Kyoya's heart skip a beat.

-

Kyoya had been staring at his ceiling for almost fifteen minutes before he let himself think of Tamaki, and the day they had had. They had gone for bread and coffee, like Tamaki had suggested, and then called for a ride to the commoner's market, where they had browsed some of the creations and produce they had. Suoh didn't let go of his hand the whole day, saying that his Japanese was too bad to let himself get lost. 

There was a guilt building his his gut from letting Tamaki say he loved him, from letting him say that they were in a relationship. He would find out eventually in a Japanese lesson, and that would be that. No blame on Kyoya, as Tamaki knew that Kyoya didn't like correcting his words unless they were terribly wrong. 

A buzz from his cellphone brought Kyoya out of his thoughts.

_From: Suoh Tamaki (11:03)_

_Good night Kyoya!! Loving you x_

Kyoya felt the ghost of a grin on his lips, and held the phone tightly in his grip for a moment. 

_To: Suoh Tamaki (11:05)_

_Goodnight, Tamaki. Love you._

He hit send, and promptly shut his phone off.

-

And so it continued. Even as Tamaki's Japanese improved, he continued to tell Kyoya he loved him. When the Host Club came together, he had introduced Kyoya as "his love" to each new boy who joined, and none of them ever uttered a peep about it. He supposed it was due to how Tamaki had been taught Japanese in a mixture of slang and formalities. 

Kyoya never truly noticed anything odd until Haruhi had pointed it out.

-

For the theme of the week, each member had been dressed in cozy pyjamas, or onesies (if you were a certain Boy Lolita), and Kyoya was not having a great time. He sat at a corner table, choosing to focus more intently on financial reports that didn't need to be done yet than focus on the girls. They were fawning over Tamaki, in his bed head and white tee shirt, untucked from his French flag pants. He would never admit it, but he still felt butterflies every time he saw Tamaki smile. It was disgusting.

Haruhi's approach had surprised him, as they were light on their feet in a pair of bunny slippers. Their small hand found its way on his shoulder, jolting him out of the world of numbers and back into the Club Room. Their warm eyes and soft smile forced him to shut his computer before they even asked him to.

"Are you okay, Senpai?" They sat on the chair next to him, and followed his eye line to see Tamaki, girls crowding him, asking him to say different words and phrases in French, him responding in the most princely voice he could muster. 

"Oh, Senpai, are you jealous?"

"No." He certainly wasn't. There was no way that he would let himself be.

"He does look awfully soft in that. The club is almost shut down for the day, Senpai, and then you and your boyfriend can have all the time in the-"

"Boyfriend? Tamaki and I aren't together."

The look of shock on Haruhi's face made him curious. They looked shocked by those words, looking between Kyoya and Tamaki.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

" _Really?_ I always assumed as you spend so much time together, and Tamaki Senpai calls you his love and talks about your relationship. Maybe he thinks you two are together, wouldn't that be funny... Senpai?" Kyoya had gone silent while listening to their words. He had never thought about that possibility. He had always thought that his feelings were one way, and that Tamaki was just being Tamaki, but... he had never said that he loved any of the other Hosts. He says that the other Hosts are his friends, or his brothers, but had always kept Kyoya out of it. 

-

Mori and Haruhi had taken it upon themselves to clean the Club Room from the day's festivities, leaving Honey asleep and the Hitachiins feverishly playing _Mario Kart_ on one of the TVs they had brought in for their sleep over theme. 

Kyoya cleared his throat. "Tamaki, may I speak to you alone?"

Tamaki looked up from the sheet music he had been reviewing, eyes soft. He stood up, holding his hand out for Kyoya to take. "Yes, my love?"

Kyoya's breath hitched in his throat. He might as well do this here, with everyone distracted.

"It's about that. The whole 'my love' speech. Are you under the impression that we are together?"

Tamaki blinked. "Kyoya, we are together every day."

Kyoya took his glasses off and rubbed under his eyes, "Romantically."

"Kyoya, I told you I loved you two weeks after we met. You said it back the same day. Are we not... romantic?" Tamaki's voice was far from typical, sounding small and meek, a wide leap from his usual confidence that Kyoya had come to love.

"Tamaki, do you think we're dating?"

"Do you think we're _not_ dating?" 

"I don't believe that we are?"

"We go out for dinner twice a week, vacation together, I took you to my hometown, you taught me Japanese, we hold hands, we nap together, eat lunch together... We're dating, aren't we."

Kyoya watched as Tamaki listed off their activities, feeling more dumb than he had been collectively in his life. How the hell did he not notice they were basically dating?

"Kyoya, I mean it when I say I love you."

Kyoya smiled and leaned up to catch his lips in a kiss. He tasted of bread and coffee with milk.

-

**Author's Note:**

> hello yes hi if you liked this please kudo or comment! i stopped writing fanfiction like two years ago but I was super into this concept so i thought this would be fun!


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